WORLD CUP DAILY - WEEKEND SPECIAL!

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PIC OF THE DAY: It's the calm before the storm - the Maracana, the biggest stadium at the World Cup, is lit up with Rio de Janeiro in the background. Next weekend, it hosts its first match, between Argentina and Bosnia-Herzegovina!

THE BIG NEWS!

- Italy arrived in Brazil on Friday morning, after catching an overnight flight out from Rome. A huge crowd of journalists and photographers saw them off!

- Big trouble for France - Franck Ribery and Clement Grenier are OUT of the World Cup. Remy Cabella and Morgan Schneiderlin have replaced them!

- EA Sports have used their 2014 FIFA World Cup game to predict the winners of the tournament - they reckon Germany will beat Brazil in the final!

- The Mayor of Manaus, the city where England play their first match, has revealed the locals aren't as footy-mad as most Brazilians. He said, "Here, we don’t even have a good football team. Our main sport here is jujitsu!"

- Australia got to Brazil ages ago, and have been training loads at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador - the stadium that hosts the match between their Group B rivals, Spain v Holland. A cheeky bit of sabotage, perhaps!?

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WEEKEND WARM-UP GAMES (Saturday unless stated)

Colombia v Jordan

Croatia v Australia

Japan v Zambia

Bolivia v Greece

Costa Rica v Republic of Ireland

Mexico v Portugal

Cameroon v Moldova

Argentina v Slovenia

Belgium v Tunisia

El Salvador v Spain

England v Honduras

USA v Nigeria

France v Jamaica (Sunday)

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Check back here every day in the run-up to the tournament for the latest news and gossip!